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Date: | Sun, 10 Jan 1999 14:23:09 -0500 |
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Kathy,
Sorry, one of my kids must have sent my last note off without
my knowing it. This is what I wanted to say.
>Can you believe her employer is the local Health Department?!!!!!
> I would assume the Health Department already knows the benefits
>of breastfeeding to mother and baby.
I wouldn't assume that the Health Department knows anything. It
depends on who you are talking about in the Health Dept. and
besides, putting together the benefits of bf with its actually
being worthwhile to work out in the workplace are two different
things. I would start with square one and proceed from there.
>I am
>looking for some information on other breastfeeding friendly work
>environments. The guidelines if there are any for setting up a breastfeeding
>friendly work place. The benefits they offer, why they think giving these
>benefits is important, and basically any information she can take with to arm
>herself with.
There are lots of companies that work out bf arrangements in the
workplace. One things that amazed me in my research on this topic
was how creative companies and individual women can be in this area.
I wrote a two article series in JHL (the Sept and Dec issues) with some
guidelines for LCs working with Moms and working with companies to
facilitate bf in the workplace.
> She would like to pump 2 times a day for 30 minutes but her employer
>is giving her a hard time about the amount of time she is spending pumping.
Three things are valuable to keep in mind when companies think that
2 30 minute breaks is too much:
1. It is often more than compensated in the amount of time
that you *don't* take off to care for a sick baby because bf babies
have fewer ear infections etc. This has been demonstrated in
research.
2. The time is also often compensated in fewer health claims
bringing sick babies to the doctor, getting meds etc.
3. Keep in mind that usually, even if women nurse their
babies for a long time, by the time the baby is 10-12 months
old mothers are no longer pumping at work. Also, by the time
the baby is 5-7 months old, she will no longer require 2 30 minute
breaks. If she took a three month maternity leave, then
we're talking 6-9 months of pumping. That's not so much, in
the grand scheme of things.
Is that their only concern? It is worthwhile to find out what
the concerns are of the employer, so that they can be
addressed directly.
Hope this is helpful and I hope it didn't come too late.
Let us know how things proceed.
Again, sorry about the confusion with the last post.
Naomi Bar-Yam PhD
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New England Complex Systems Institute
http://necsi.org
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